Scrapbook for March

25.03.2025 – The EU rearms

The recent 'leak' of the Signal chat between the bigwigs of the US administration gave a brief glimpse into the US superpower discussing its strategic and tactical priorities. For me, the most interesting segment came in an exchange between Vice President Vance and Secretary of Defense Hegseth when they were discussing the US taking action against the Houthis, the troublemakers currently expensively disturbing international shipping. Vance wrote:

Three per cent of US trade runs through the Suez. Forty per cent of European trade does. […]

To which Hegseth responded:

I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close.

This level of retaliation against a nest of an Iranian terrorist proxy is the kind of task that the global superpower has to do. If Europe is to take up its share of military responsibilities in the world, it will have to be able to achieve the reach that will enable it to do this.

But at the moment all we hear from the EU – and particularly Germany – is directed towards repelling the great enemy in the east, Russia. Tanks, artillery, even President Macron's nukes (if they are still in working order)… a replay of the great land-battles that have been the dominant feature of centuries of European conflicts.

No, comrades. Building a global reach by land, by sea and by air will need a whole lot of spending money and a procurement programme that addresses the full spectrum of future military needs. Time to put on your thinking caps, get your wallets out and stop shouting 'Russia!'.

16.03.2025 – Answer the door with style

From the Kontrafunk.radio shop:

Answer the door with style. Stay stylish even in difficult situations. This bathrobe is not only indispensible for wellness holidays, but is also the appropriate garment in which to receive the police detachment for their six a.m. raid – be it for a house search or for your arrest.

Stilvoller Türempfang. Zeigen Sie auch in schwierigen Situationen Stil! Der Bademantel ist nicht nur für Wellness-Ferien unverzichtbar, sondern auch das passende Kleidungsstück, um morgens um sechs ein Polizeikommando zu empfangen – sei es zum Zweck einer Hausdurchsuchung oder der eigenen Verhaftung.

Kontrafunk is a German broadcaster and podcaster which appeals to dissentients (= the sane) in these fraught times in Germany. It broadcasts discussions on German politics and culture between highly qualified people who risk saying the unsayable, thus attracting the attention of the unspeakable. It has already been debanked in Germany, so its members must be doing something right. They also have a sense of humour, a further identifier of the sane in these deranged times.

10.03.2025 – Stop the war in Ukraine

Donald Trump and his administration want as a matter of extreme urgency to obtain a ceasefire in Ukraine followed by a durable peace. Soldiers and civilians are dying or being maimed every day.

For reasons that are beyond me, the Democrats don't want this, the EU doesn't want this, the individual nations of the EU don't want this and the European members of NATO don't want this.

Worse, many of these countries (particularly Great Britain) are pumping money and weapons into Ukraine. It seems only a matter of time before the USA withdraws from NATO. The situation at the moment is precarious: some random (©JD Vance) hothead country may cross the line in weaponry and need the big boy in the playground to come and rescue them, except the big boy has gone home.

What the warmongers expect to achieve is incomprehensible. There are no circumstances in which Ukraine can defeat Russia. To take an example: the situation in Kursk (Russian territory) is hopeless for the Ukrainian army. They are getting pounded and encircled. Presumably aiming for the propaganda victory of getting Ukrainian boots on Russian territory they committed the classic military error of punching through a line, leaving themselves with the enemy on three sides.

We usually imagine that the endphase of a war consists of the combatants trying to claim whatever territory they can before the fighting stops. There are credible indications, however, that recent Russian strategy is not about territory but directed towards the complete elimination of the Ukrainian army, and when not eliminated then taken hostage.

It's a mess. Donald Trump has the only solution.